Forming Intentions


The criteria for forming intentions for writing are as follows:


  1. identify the purpose and audience for your writing
  2. think carefully about the possible content of your writing
  3. gather, select, and organise ideas and information, either in your minds (to be drawn upon when required) or by recording them using graphic organisers such as word lists, flow charts, and mind maps
  4. make connections between the ideas and information, ask questions about them, visualise them, analyse them, synthesise them, and evaluate them, in order to decide which ideas and information to include
  5. discuss your planning with other writers and get feedback about it.




1. Audience


Who are you writing for?

What will they know, what do they not know?

What kind of impact do you want this story to have on your audience? Do you want to make them laugh or cry? Do you want to give them a bit of a fright, or give them an adventure?


See the what and so what pages to help with this.




2. Think carefully about the possible content of your writing


See the features page and the 5 facts about fiction page for help


Make a story: Have fun learning
about narrative writing by creating
a story online.
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Storybird - use art and story to create an amazing looking publishable story

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Read stories! As you read/listen to
stories, think about the strategies that
these writers have used to draw you into
their world.
Sunshine Books Online: (login = pointview/password = apple)
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Storyline Online: Animated stories read by celebrities - could listening to stories get any better than this?!

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3. gather, select, and organise ideas and information, either in their minds (to be drawn upon when required) or by recording them using graphic organisers such as word lists, flow charts, and mind maps


See the structure app for help here

Useful sites for brainstorming and planning:

Mind-meister: free account
allows 3 saved mindmaps.
Screen-capture(shift+command+4)
is the easiest way to print your map.
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Read/Write/Think
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4. make connections between the ideas and information, ask questions about them, visualise them, analyse them, synthesise them, and evaluate them, in order to decide which ideas and information to include


See the book-busters.wikispaces.com wiki and especially revisit the strategies/apps you have used in reading




5. discuss your planning with other writers and get feedback about it.